Screenshots of Windows 8.1 RTM leak onto the web

Screenshots from the final version of Windows 8.1 RTM have begun to surface on the web and we are happy to make them available to our readers. The shots show the default start screen, lock screen, and desktop screen backgrounds. Windows 8.1 was finalized on August 23rd and we are more than excited to get the final build in our own hands.

Check out the screenshots below and let us know what you think. They might just be collections of new operating system wallpaper, but when it comes to technology – design can be the first and longest lasting impression.

Are you currently on the Windows 8.1 Consumer Preview?

Bonus Question: Are any of our readers not running Windows 8 (Still on XP, Vista, or 7)?

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I have a 27inch 1440 and a 24 inch 1200 in dual monitor on win 8.1 preview. Win 8 makes so much more sense even on large monitors, non touch. People are just beyond retardation as you can tell my daily news

I've just been lazy for my work PC. Media Center on 8 won't work with my Echo. I also have been lazy to check to see if the family safety thing works on 8, plus the kids have been using the Surface RT a lot.

Ok, now that Ballmer is finally gone, can we please have some consistency and let me put the tiles where I want them, like the phone?

drg, I agree with you fully!! The RT version is the "tablet" version. Can IPAD people run the same desktop apps as their Mac's....no. I really can't figure out the "twit's" and the media that feeds this BS. Very simple, the RT is a tablet for consumption with a twist....it has MS office if you need it. Surface Pro is a full I5 machine that will run RT apps and desktop apps. I love the Win 8 interface...the start button is between the Crtl and Alt keys.....put you apps on the "Start" screen, not really that complicated.

What i meant was, you dont see the full mac desktop on an iPad. The inclusion of the desktop shouldnt be confusing, but Microsoft over did it. The desktop, without fiddling with the sizing settings, can be a bit tricky on even an x86 tablet, and Modern UI applications are geared more towards those users (even though they are just as fine on a desktop or laptop for the most part). However, the desktop makes no sense on RT, other than to exist temporarily till microsoft makes tablet versions of the rest of their apps, such as office and explorer.

Its confusing because it has nothing distinctive about it. Especially when x86 apps are being called "Desktop Apps" by microsoft. The purpose of a Windows RT tablet is to have something that can do more. It has office, Full flash browser, and a growing store of Windows Store apps. The purpose of an x86 tablet (which manufacturers dont seem to understand this, btw) is to have the usability of the RT device, while having the added ability to run legacy desktop software and use x86 applications. But how do you market those points when, A: OEMS are making Atom tablets cheaper than RT tablets, and B: Both Windows and WIndows RT when put side by side look exactly the same.

Its not that RT is confusing, its that it has nothing to make it stand out. Nothing to visually differentiate itself from Windows [x86]. Thats probably [partially] why RT devices havent been doing so hot. (That and an ATOM tablet being cheaper than RT till recently)

Using the Apple ecosystem as an example invalidates your point. You don't see the full mac running on an iPad is because that's the path that apple followed when they made the iPad. Microsoft is doing something different with windows 8 and adding more functionality and unification and comparing it in that aspect to the iPad makes no sense.

thats a misconception. 8 has numerous improvements over 7, and the desktop is nearly %100 identical to seven (minus the start button, which is hidden in the bottom corner till mouse hover in 8.0, put back in [sadly] in 8.1). And did I mention the fast boot speed?

I run both windows 8 and 8.1 consumer preview on my old 2009 non-touch laptop (came with vista) and believe me or not, performance is way better than windows 7.
There are numerous third party apps that can make you never see the start screen but in my opinion, the "Metro" start screen is one of the best features on Windows 8. I mean windows 8 is basically (a better) windows 7 with an easy-to-use-visually-stunning welcome screen and i'm quite suprised you couldn't get used to it.
To be honest I don't use the start screen as often as I would if it was a touch device, but every single thing about it, navigation, apps&games, multitasking works almost flawlessly with a keyboard and mouse. You probably have more reasons why you don't like it, but "overrated" is a pretty unreasonable word to use regarding windows 8.

I can vouch for this. My second laptop is a HP Intel Centrino Duo that came with Vista. I got it in 2007. I upgraded it to Windows 7 in 2009 and put Windows 8 on it last year. Windows 8 has worked the best. I too started with Start8 on mine to help the transition, and I still use it for jump lists and quicker access to libraries. But for an actual app launcher, I think the new Start screen is superior. Who cares if it takes up the whole screen? You're not looking at the other stuff when using the Win7 start screen anyway.

The start screen is the app launcher. Do you sit around looking at the start menu on windows 7? If not, then click on the shortcut you need, wait for the app to launch and then get to work. There is nothing to get used to. Just like the desktop, pin your favorites and organize them how you want. The only part of windows 8 that gets a little getting used to is the charms and the location of the settings.

Funny I taught a 75 year old woman to use Windows 8 - upgrade from Windows XP and she learnt what the start screen did in 5 minutes. She also thought the apps were great. Are you perhaps an 80 year old woman?

Touch is great on laptops. Let's face it, as portable devices get more powerful, the traditional desktop is becoming less useful. Besides, who is forcing you to use touch? The only thing that requires touch is some of the metro app, but you don't need to download them. The start screen certainly doesn't require touch. If you don't like the tiles, make them small and organize them the way you would on the desktop. If you don't like any of the metro apps, just unpin them and pin the x86 apps instead.

I can't think of one reason why w7 start menu is better than w8 start screen. Maybe, people just don't like change, they don't wanna get used to new things. It's like every time Facebook or YouTube changes their layout/design and people lose their minds like it's the end of the world and a few months later, they get used to it.

On the 8.1 cp, and I'm so far happy with it. I get people's ease of use issues with win8, but I they don't apply to me. As a WP8 user id like to see better cross platform stuff, and easier syncing between the two.

Overheard a couple of developers at Atlanta Code Camp this weekend who said that they're going to stick with Win7 until at least Win9 comes out. Good luck keeping up with technology with an attitude like that...

Been running W8 since consumer preview. Now, I have 8.1 CP on everything. I've been using W8 for so long, when I tried to fix a relative's XP desktop, I kept on putting the pointer in the top right to get the charms bar.

I'm running 8.1 preview on desktop, but have Windows 7 on my laptop.
Windows XP & Vista on some no longer used hardware.
I'm wandering what, if any, differences there will between the preview & final release. I'm really interested in seeing if anything is added to the Start button (i.e., programs list). Unfortunately these 'leaks' don't really tell us much.

Work: Windows XP Professional (domian controller is Windows Server 2000)
Home: Windows 8.1 Pro Preview with Media Center (domain controller is Windows Server 2012 Datacenter Edition)
My house is much beter than work, they are living in the stone age it drives me crazy!!

Windows 8 is fine, but the tiled interface seems totally unecessary. I totally understand how to use it, and its true, the new start menu is less jaring in 8.1 than in 8.0. I still have to wonder why though. Using Apple as an example, they have introduced some iOS features into OS X, but the core operating system is still separate, and rightly so. Microsoft should have simply improved upon Windows 7 instead of reinventing the wheel half way.

The tiled interface is what makes windows 8. Apple has done (almost) exactly the same thing, the only difference is that it does not boot to the Launchpad. Window 8 is just (a better) windows 7 with a nice welcome screen. With the numerous games and apps that take the "metro" format, in my opinion, the 'tiled interface' is necessary.

Still using Windows 7.
I tried Windows 8 and I found myself switching to Desktop as soon as I started my session, because TBH, there's no sense on using a live-tile based UI with a mouse.
Also, most Windows Apps are not getting the advantages of the Modern/Metro UI, so the fancy Windows 8 "start menu" is barely a launcher for legacy style apps.

But that's exactly how it should be used until the metro store matures a bit. Just treat it as a full screen start menu. So, why use windows 7? The under the hood improvements alone are worth the upgrade. You'll get faster boot times and a better explorer. The new IE is fast and fluid. By the way, the live based ui is fine to use with a mouse. Just use the mouse wheel and click away. It's only a problem if you pinned every app you have installed and now require a ton of scrolling to find anything. A little organizing and the strat screen becomes very usable with a mouse.

Prior to Win8, I did not like MS. If I had to run XP, I'd snag VirtualBox and run an Ubuntu VM.
Now I run Win8 on my home laptop, my work desktop (an iMac, no less, yay Boot Camp!), I have a Surface RT, and I have a Lumia 920. I love Win8; I think the Start Screen (even in 8.0) is a huge improvement over the Start Menu when used properly.
I did run 8.1 Preview on my laptop for a bit, but I'm not a big fan of beta OSs. Can't wait for the final release. :)

8.1 on my Surface RT. Photos and People still don't work right, IE 11 is almost unusable, and overall it's almost as unstable as Android. I find it hard to believe all this will be magically fixed in the official release.

I haven't used 8.1, but IE11 on 8 works great for me. I find it is the best touch browser out there. I have a crappy dell duo netbook that has a touchscreen that flips. I use that more than my ipad2, even though the screen is really crappy, because the browsing is so much easier on ie. I've seen people complain about videos and People, but you are the first I've seen complain about IE.

Did you not read my previous reply, or did you just ignore it because you couldn't think of anything else to say? There are serious basic functionality problems in the 8.1 RT preview that have not been fixed yet, so when they say the final release is ready, I have my doubts. We'll see if I'm right soon enough.

And by the way, I did actually read what Microsoft had to say about the preview prior to installing it. It was not nearly as complete as they claimed.

I can agree with your statement to the extent of its very glitchy but I can also say that back when the cp for w8 was out it was near identical with the experience. Somehow they managed to reduce the issues before launch, so I'm not worried.

If you're running XP now, you're only doing your PC a disservice, as it will be prone to rampant viruses, malware, spyware, etc., as many are written specifically for this OS. And since Microsoft is cutting this OS off in 2014, no more updates to fix any other problems. (IE7-8 a big one!)Do yourself a favor and upgrade to at least 7. Or replace your hardware.
As for me? Win8.1RT preview on my VivoTab, Win8.1 preview on my desktop, Win7 on my laptop. All with antivirus spyware and malware safety from either Defender or Security Essentials.

Win 2000 (lol I know), Win XP, and Win7 at work.
WinRT 8.1 on Surface RT, Win 8.1 on Yoga and Win 8 Enterprise on Desktop at home.
Excited to finally be able to update out of the consumer version (really disappointed it's not on MSDN).

Someone once came to me with a Windows 98 laptop and asked me to check because something was wrong (Windows 98 wasn't it) so when it boot up and came to the login screen nobody knew the password. Guess what, I clicked the cancel button on the login screen and I was in the system.
Windows 98, the easiest to break into. Windows XP is also super easy....

Windows 7 will be replaced on my systems as soon as they restore the start menu. The start screen is too much of a pain in the ass on a desktop. I like windows 8's desktop improvements, but not enough to upgrade. No I don't want 3rd party addons to fix microsoft's screwup either.

No it's not. Unpin the metro tiles you don't need. Pin the X86 apps you do need. You will have yourself a nice full screen app launcher that's easy to use on a desktop. You really have to learn to deal with change. Just do a little organizing and you will become very happy with the OS. Besides, what is so great about the start menu? It narrow, doesn't show very many shortcuts, and many shortcuts are buried in folders. The only function I miss a little is the jumplists.

I have a Lumia 925. Work Laptop Win8.1, Home Desktop Win8.1, Surface RT is on 8.1 also. The work laptop has a hard time connecting to Skydrive. The RT is very buggy on 8.1, was good on 8.0. Home Computer is good on 8.1 with no issues. (non windows I have the Galaxy Nexus Stock on 4.3, I carry it tethered to my Lumia... I have the ASUS Transformer Prime, which I hate.... crashes all the time, tried factory reseting it countless times and even sent it in fo service.. I give up on it) Coming from Samsung and ASUS, I'm blown away with the stability and software support from Nokia. (I have Apple's stuff too, but the above stuff is Mine... I work as a dev so a lot of the devices are shared for testing purposes)

Win7. I'll wait to upgrade to Win8 when I can find a touch screen laptop that has a matte screen, and the laptop has more than a couple ports. Hello OEMs? (though it does look like Lenovo is going to release something in the fall that might work).

Most businesses will not upgrade to 8.1 because they don't even have touchscreens yet, it's very expensive to upgrade and then train employees to use it and make sure all their other software remains compatible, and Win 7 is such a reliable OS that there's really no compelling reason to goto 8.

Companies that are on XP or earlier are going to wait and see if Win 9 is when they take the leap.

The training for windows 8 is to sit everyone in front of a projector, show them the hot corners, show them the multitasking, and show them the charms and settings. Should take maybe half an hour. Then let them play with it for an hour and you will be done. I haven't found a single program that worked on win 7 that didn't work on win 8. Although there are some drivers for hardware that might not work if the hardware is very old. Usually, windows 7 drivers work in that situation, but not always. If you are talking about laptops, touchscreens are a must. For desktops, it's not needed unless you get touchscreen monitors that lie across the desk at an angle. You can't use touchscreen monitors if the monitor is a hand length away from you. The core of windows 8 is nearly the same as windows 7. So, 8 is just as reliable. Companies that are xp are fools. They should at least upgrade to 7. I'm sure Microsoft isn't devoting much resources to XP and many vulnerabilities remain unpatched. Support ends in 2014.

As ymcpa said training isn't that complex. Heck, during install, you get a 30 sec video that shows charms and corners. Also, there is now a help feature included on the start screen.

This whole thing about needing to have a touch screen is crap. I have a touch screen on one desktop, and sure it is nice. But I don't have a touch screen on my other desktop, nor on my laptop and it works great with a touch pad and mouse. And yes, the start screen is still just as useful without a touch screen. I think people are just stubborn and are afraid to change.

I have an hp I bought new with Win8 on it in January. I also have an older pc my son and I built that dual boots Win7 and 8.1. I also have a Toshiba laptop I got 2+ years ago with 7 on it. And just to round it out, I also have WP8 (Nokia Lumia 822). I like the different advantages of each one. My laptop I use mostly for my work, because I had loaded all the necessary programs on it before 8 came out. I am gradually adding them to the hp. But I enjoy trying out the new features of 8.1 in my spare time.

I'm on the desktop the vast majority of time, too. I load up my PC and go straight there. However, I've found that I get by just fine without the start menu. I keep my most used programs pinned to the task bar, just like I did when using Win7. That takes care of the vast majority of what I do on my computer. And on those occassions I need to load up one of my only occassionally used programs? I keep it in an easy spot on my start screen so I can quickly hop over to it, click the large box, and then go right back into the desktop mode with the program running. As for the rarely used ones, using the search pulls those up very quickly.
No start menu needed.

W8RT only on Surface. I still have XP on a computer and a laptop, but in my normal work and gaming PC, Windows 7 still rules and will remain there until Windows 9, next year since 8.1 hasn't addressed any of my problems with W8. And if W9 still doesn't do it I'll wait for W10 etc until I'm forced to change it (like happened with XP).

I'm running windows 8, with the classic shell program installed. I never see the windows 8 touchscreen portion, I just get my start up button , and all the coolness of windows 7. A great $40 Windows 8 OS.

Home: Windows 8 for my HTPC and another PC in my bedroom. My laptop also runs Windows 8. I also have a Windows XP PC - built from a pile of old computer parts that I had lying around - but I barely use it now. Waiting for the 8.1 upgrade. :D
Work: Windows 8 on my main PC. Still had to work with Windows XP and XP Embedded on some machines mainly due to hardware constrictions or software compatibility issues. I don't operate those machines unless I need to repair them anyway so it does not bother me much. Some of them even still use OS/2 Warp which are pretty robust machines if you ask me. LOL :P
Phones: A Lumia 620 is my daily driver. I also have a couple of hacked Windows Phone 7 devices which I don't really use much lately other than for testing some app ideas. Hope to see the progress of Windows Phone 8.1 soon. Planning to upgrade to a Lumia 1020 because my cousin's Lumia 920 is turning me green in envy. LOL

I have a 920, Surface RT, and a 2010 Macbook Pro running 10.8 ML. I am waiting for the perfect PC though. I want the XPS 27 ($2000 model), but it's weird that only the $2,500 model has blu ray. I want a blu ray slot. Also 802.11ac. Once they add that, I'm buying it, unless Apple's new Macs are good (as I want a mac too). If it is, I'll just get that and put windows on it.

Here's to using Windows Thin PC or Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs!
It's nice to have to run on an old IBM that shipped with Win98, running essentially Windows XP without most of the miscelaneous stuffs.
Windows Thin PC or Embedded makes for the best gaming PC, it lets you install Windows completely itemized and its nice to have a nearly bare minimum OS with only the packages you need. I got a free copy from Dreamspark, and its convenient.

Work: Windows 7, Windows Server 2008
Home: Everyone on Windows 8, Home Server 2011 (will probably end up wiping it and putting Windows 8.1 on it for use as a file server)
Both: My Surface Pro is running Windows 8.

Work: W7
Home: W8 (8.1 is here soon, didn't wanna bother with the cp and reinstalling stuff)
WinRT on the Surface - bought about a month ago, gave it to my brother as a present. Holding out for either the Surface 2 or the Nokia tablet now.
Phone: 7.8 (yay for contracts)

I am using it on my Lenovo x220T and I am generally pleased. The last BIOS update will not install and for some reason I get a notification that one of the drivers is missing, but that is not true. I hope that the full version fixes these little issues.